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The theme for my quilt guild show this year is Diamond Jubilee, so bling on the ribbons is in order! I designed a theme logo for the show consisting of four diamonds in a modern take on a diamond quilt block motif. To carry the theme from the marketing materials to the ribbons, I designed a rhinestone embellishment for the ribbon centers. I was lucky to find acrylic rhinestones in the exact shape of the show logo diamonds. But the thought of individually adhering all those stones to 120+ ribbons was daunting. I knew I needed an accurate way of replicating the logo with the stones.

The ribbons as they came from the supplier had plain centers the color of the ribbon, so to get more bling, I measured the centers and cut circles out of glitter adhesive backed paper to dress up the ribbon centers.

The diamond motifs were designed in Make The Cut! based on the size of the actual rhinestones. I used the shadow function to make my template cut out slightly larger than the stones. The green rhinestone template material is super sticky and I needed a backing for my template anyway, so I used an old mat that I could retire. Once the shapes were cut out of the material, I weeded the positive and left the negative stuck to the mat for my rhinestone template.

Unlike the round rhinestones where you can just brush them into the round holes in a template, these diamond shaped stones had to be placed individually into the template.

I then applied the Rhinestone Transfer Tape to the entire template, lifting all 48 diamond logo motifs at one time. Repeated the process three times until I had enough motifs.

A few passes with my rotary cutter yielded individual diamond motifs ready for transfer to the ribbons.

Unfortunately, these rhinestones were not self-adhesive, so the additional step of applying glue to each stone needed to be done before transferring the motifs to the ribbon centers.

Accurate transfer of the diamond motif is a snap with the Rhinestone Transfer Tape!

And now I can recruit some help with the rest of the ribbons and be assured that the designed motif will look the same on every ribbon.

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When I envisioned this quilt, The Iron Throne, I knew I would use my KNK Maxx Air cutting machine to cut the intricate appliqué out of heat transfer vinyl. What I did not guess is how many other things I would make to help me bring The Iron Throne to life.

Cutting Template to ensure each diamond block was exactly the same size. I used Grafix Craft Plastic .020 mm to make the template and included registration marks to help be line it up. I included a cut out in the center so that the quilted appliqué would not distort the template when used.

Fabric! I wanted to include a flange border in the binding of each diamond and I did not have any fabric that I was happy with to match the colors. So, I made my own fabric by cutting strips of the same heat transfer vinyl I used in the appliqués and fused it to muslin. Now I had the perfect color flanges to inset into my binding.

Sword Marking Templates to mark my quilting lines on the leather corners of the quilt for the swords that make up The Iron Throne. Quilters template plastic was used for these templates.

Hole Marking Guides to accurately and evenly mark where the holes needed to be punched for the installation of the grommets. I first made one specifically for the diamonds and then refined it to a multi-use tool for future projects. I used a quilters plastic template material for these guides.

My cutting machine has become a valuable tool in my quilting studio to create original art!

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I am working on a special quilted art piece using new materials and techniques that I am currently experimenting with. Leather, heat transfer vinyl, computerized cutting, and chainmail! Each of the blocks in the quilt have different styles of background quilting for the theme of the block. I wanted a gentle wave as background fill for the House Stark block and could not find a longarm ruler exactly like I needed, so I decided to make one using my Maxx Air.

Longarm rulers need to be ¼” thick so the hopping foot does not jump the ruler and cause damage to the needle bar and throw off the machine timing. Not to mention break needles! Since we cannot cut that thickness of material with our cutting machines, I decided to cut multiple layers of craft plastic and glue the layers together to get to the ¼” height I needed. It took ten layers of the .020mm plastic to achieve the proper thickness.

Brought my Corel design for the ruler into Make the Cut! and added the text for the ruler name. Separated the text and guide lines as separate layers for the engraving. I only engraved one text layer and a few guidelines only layers, the rest I just cut the outline of the ruler.

I could get three ruler layers on one sheet of 12” x12” craft plastic. Using the Extra Sticky Mat, I taped down the edges of the plastic, just in case. First, I engraved the plastic using the Engraving Tool with the ruler name and then changed to the Red Blade to cut the ruler layers.

After removing the excess plastic, I glued the layers together carefully making sure that everything lined up properly. I encased the engraved layers between the clear layers so I got a smooth bottom to my ruler. And for a little extra bit of security I used a clear packing tape on the ends while the glue was drying.

I then applied a few pieces of ruler grip tape to the bottom so the ruler would not slip on the surface of the leather as I was quilting. I did notice some minor “fanning” of the layers when the hopping foot was in motion, but not enough to impact the outcome. Next time I will be sure to apply more glue along the edges.

I am pleased with the results using my new longarm ruler. This was a quick solution to fulfill my need and I will be making more longarm rulers for special projects in the future!

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When a beloved co-worker and best friend moves on to pursue exciting personal opportunities, what do you do? Have a surprise party and wish them the best! Staff and close friends were asked to contribute to fill a treasure box with cards and small gifts to show our love and appreciation for her service. Cathy has many signature styles in her art and many of the gifts reflected these themes. One recurring theme in her work is sugar skulls, so I decided to make a banner to decorate her studio.

I collected sugar skull SVGs from several websites and modified them where necessary to cut well in paper. Then I created two shadow layers of each skull, one smaller and one ¼” larger. The skull and the larger shadow layer were cut twice, both in white and black cardstock. The smaller shadow layer I cut in a brightly colored cardstock.

Assembled the skulls by sandwiching the inner color layer between the skull front and back. To create the hanger for each skull, I cut a 1” x 5” strip of card stock, folded in half and attached at 8” intervals along my hanger ribbon. The hangers were centered on the back of the skulls and glued in place. Added some bright ribbon tassels on the ends to finish off the banner.

Cathy was overwhelmed by the treasure box and has added all our gifts to her studio décor as a daily reminder of the friends that support her in her new venture. I hope she smiles every time she looks at her sugar skull banner.

Hot fix crystals are a fun way to add sparkle to your quilts, but it can be tedious applying thousands of crystals one by one. Using a rhinestone placement template, you can recreate a design across several areas of your quilt while applying multiples all at once. On most of my quilts I average 3000 to 5000 crystals in various sizes. Rhinestone templates help speed up the process by days!

Rock-It Rhinestone Flock is easily cut with KNK cutting machines. Rhinestone SVG files are designed replacing cut lines with small holes corresponding to the standard crystal sizes. Most cutting design software programs like Sure Cuts A Lot, have a rhinestone tool to help automate this process turning a regular design or font into a rhinestone outline or even a filled object.

Remove the flock material from the backing sheet and apply directly to the mat before cutting. This helps the weeding much easier as when you pull the flock from the mat the circles remain.

Once the template is cut and weeded, apply the sticky side of the material to a backing board. You can use cardstock or the original carrier sheet for your backing. To use the template pour some rhinestones on and sweep into the holes with a brush. Pick up your design out of the template with a sticky heat resistant Rhinestone Transfer Tape. This allows you to place your crystal motif onto the quilt and use an iron to heat set the crystals all at once!